docs← Back to article

Markdown for LLMs

LDC-E1319 — Expectation outside the vocabulary

The source Markdown for this article. Copy it into your assistant or download it as a text file.

Download this articlePlain text ↗
# LDC-E1319 — Expectation outside the vocabulary

## What it means

Expectations compare result fields against a closed dictionary: each
status field accepts only its own enumerated values. A value from
outside that list matches nothing the engine can produce — not a
stricter check, but a check against a word the result language never
utters. The compiler stops at the unknown value and lists the words
the field actually accepts.

The repair is to expect one of the listed values. When none of them
says what the test means, the test is asking about the wrong field,
not missing a word.

## Example

```run
{"argv": ["lower-test", "$ROOT/test.lawtest"], "files": {"test.lawtest": "language \"law.core\" version \"0.2\";\npackage demo.diagnostics version \"0.1.0\";\nnamespace \"urn:law:demo:diagnostics\";\n\nrelation sunny() kind institutional;\n\ntest \"vacuous\" {\n    given {\n        context {\n            legal_time @2026-08-26;\n        }\n    }\n\n    evaluate truth(sunny());\n\n    expect evaluation_status == BOGUS;\n}\n"}, "expect": "LDC-E1319"}
```

## Fix

```run
{"argv": ["lower-test", "$ROOT/test.lawtest"], "files": {"test.lawtest": "language \"law.core\" version \"0.2\";\npackage demo.diagnostics version \"0.1.0\";\nnamespace \"urn:law:demo:diagnostics\";\n\nrelation sunny() kind institutional;\n\ntest \"vacuous\" {\n    given {\n        context {\n            legal_time @2026-08-26;\n        }\n    }\n\n    evaluate truth(sunny());\n\n    expect evaluation_status == COMPUTED;\n}\n"}, "expect": null}
```

## Engine message

The engine reports this in its own wording:

```text
$ROOT/test.lawtest:16:33: error LDC-E1319: "BOGUS" is not a value of field evaluation_status §174.1; dictionary is closed: COMPUTED, MISSING_INPUT, MISSING_POLICY, REQUIRES_JUDGMENT, NON_EXECUTABLE, EXTERNAL_UNAVAILABLE, INTERPRETATION_REQUIRED, SOURCE_RESOLUTION_FAILED, PRIORITY_CONFLICT, UNRESOLVED_NORMATIVE_CONFLICT, CONFLICTED_INPUTS, TYPE_ERROR, RUNTIME_ERROR, RESOURCE_LIMIT
```

## Related

- [LDC-E1316](/diagnostics/LDC-E1316/) — a test that asserts nothing at all.